No discussions to fire Rosenstein: White House

Washington: An official of the White House said that there were no discussions about firing United States Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah said, “I’m saying it on behalf of the White House, and that’s that no changes are going to be made at the Department of Justice.”

“There are no discussions or consideration of firing Rod Rosenstein,” the official said to a local media.

The possibility of firing the deputy attorney general sparked after US President Donald Trump was asked if he retained confidence on the former following the release of Republican memo, which indicated alleged surveillance abuses of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

“You figure that one out,” Trump had replied.

The Democrats, in a letter, said Trump that using the Republican memo as a “pretext” to fire Rosenstein or Special Counsel Robert Mueller would spark a “constitutional crisis”.

“We write to inform you that we would consider such an unwarranted act as an attempt to obstruct justice in the Russia investigation. Firing Rod Rosenstein, DOJ (Department of Justice) leadership or Bob Mueller could result in a constitutional crisis…,” the Democrats said in a letter to the President.

The controversial Nunes memo was released on Friday after Trump gave a green signal to it.

“I think it’s a disgrace. A lot of people should be ashamed of themselves,” Trump said in Oval Office after approving the memo.

The decision clears the way for the Intelligence Committee to release the memo, reported The Hill.

“It was declassified and let’s see what happens,” Trump added.

In a rare public statement on Wednesday, the FBI had said: “We are gravely concerned that critical facts are missing from the documents and has painted an inaccurate picture of how the bureau sought approval to conduct surveillance in the probe.”

The probe grew out of the FBI’s Russia investigation after Trump fired FBI director James Comey and Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the investigation.

Russia, however, has denied meddling in the election campaign and Trump has called Mueller’s probe a “political witch hunt”. (ANI)